If you are planning to take some CBD capsules to help relieve pain and inflammation, to help you sleep, or for whatever other purpose, taking them at the right time is essential. Since you are eating these CBD capsules, what else you have in your stomach is going to make a difference.
Just like other medications and substances out there, some need to be taken with food and some should be taken on an empty stomach. So, as far as CBD capsules are concerned, can you take CBD on an empty stomach?
Should you take CBD capsules with or without food? Keep reading to find out.
Key Takeaways
- CBD capsules are little pills made with edible food-grade ingredients and filled with CBD extract.
- CBD is best taken 30 minutes after eating fatty foods.
- CBD may stay in your system for up to 28 days.
What Are CBD Capsules?
CBD capsules are essentially little pills that are filled with CBD extract. These capsules are made of edible food-grade materials, which means they dissolve when you eat them. When they hit your stomach, the capsule shell dissolves, releasing the CBD into your stomach.
This CBD may come in the form of CBD isolate, or in other words, CBD powder, although it may also come in the form of a CBD oil or tincture. Unlike CBD flower or shatter that you would smoke or vape, and unlike CBD oil that is best used sublingually, CBD capsules are meant for ingestion.
CBD capsules can come in both broad spectrum and full spectrum formats, and they can come in many different doses or concentrations as well.
What Are the Benefits of CBD Capsules?
If we are talking about the benefits of CBD capsules, there are two ways to look at it. We can look at the benefits of CBD itself and the benefits of taking CBD capsules as opposed to taking oil, smoking CBD flower, or using a concentrate for vaping.
Let's take a look at both right now.
If we are talking about the benefits of CBD itself, there are quite a few supposed ones. One of the main benefits that CBD supposedly has is that it is thought to be an effective, or in other words, pain reliever.
At the same time, CBD is also thought to be a fairly strong anti-inflammatory, which means that it can relieve inflammation. For this reason, many people take CBD to help them soothe information and pain, especially when it comes to muscles and joints.
CBD is also thought to be a mood regulator due to the way in which it supposedly interacts with your brain, particularly with serotonin and serotonin receptors.
In the simplest terms, CBD is thought to help increase the production of serotonin in the brain while also decreasing cortisol levels. Serotonin is something that makes you feel joyful and happy, whereas cortisol is something that makes you feel stressed out.
Therefore, more serotonin and less cortisol mean that your mood should be regulated, and in the grand scheme of things, you should feel happier. For this reason, CBD is also thought to be a good sleep aid, because it can sometimes help reduce stress and anxiety, helping you get a better night's sleep.
If we are talking about why you would take CBD capsules, as opposed to something like CBD oil, the big benefit is that you can't taste the capsules. CBD oil and other hemp oils don't usually taste very good, so being able to just swallow a capsule is ideal.
At the same time, capsules also allow for long-lasting relief because, while it does take more for the CBD to be absorbed by your body, it will also stay in your system for quite a long time.
Of course, if we are talking about the benefits of CBD capsules when compared to smoking or vaping, your respiratory health is always in question. Not having to inhale any vapor or smoke into your lungs is a much healthier alternative.
How Much CBD Should You Take?
The recommendation is to take roughly 0.25 milligrams of CBD for every pound of body weight, or about 0.5 milligrams of CBD for every kilogram. Therefore, if you weigh 200 pounds, you should take around 50 milligrams of CBD.
Yes, this does depend on why you are taking it and how sensitive you are to it. The fact is that people react differently to these kinds of substances, so it may take more or less for you to feel the desired effects.
If you are worried about starting with a high dose, you could always start with something like 0.1 milligrams per pound of body weight. However, if you feel that the recommended dose doesn't work for you, you could increase the dosage to 0.5 or even a full 1 milligram for every pound of body weight.
Should You Take CBD Capsules with or Without Food?
What is interesting here is that most people would probably think that taking CBD on an empty stomach would produce better results. You might think that if CBD is the only thing in your system, your body would have a much easier time taking it up because it's not distracted by other food.
However, due to the way in which CBD works, particularly the way in which the body absorbs CBD, this actually isn't true. CBD has a generally low bioavailability, meaning your body doesn't absorb much of it.
Generally speaking, only about 10% to 20% of the CBD you ingest will be absorbed by your body, with around 80% or even 90% of it completely wasted.
First and foremost, if you have a big meal in your system, it's going to take your body time to digest it, which means that if you eat CBD capsules after having a meal, they will stay in your system for longer before they are expelled.
This will therefore give your body more time to absorb as much of this as possible. Now, even if you eat a big meal before taking CBD capsules, your body isn't going to absorb 100% of it, but it will be able to absorb more of that CBD than if you took those capsules on an empty stomach.
CBD actually works best if you eat fatty foods about 30 minutes before you take it. Things like cheese, seeds, fish, avocado, nuts, and other foods with a lot of fat help improve the CBD absorption rate. The reason for this is because fat lipids assist in transporting cannabinoids such as CBD into the bloodstream and into the cell membrane.
Therefore, the more fat you have in your stomach, the more CBD combined with that fat, thus allowing for maximum absorption. If you expect to absorb as much as possible of the CBD that you consume, eating fatty foods about 30 to 60 minutes before consuming the CBD capsules is recommended.
People have also asked us, can you take CBD gummies on an empty stomach? The answer here is no different than with CBD capsules. Due to the way in which the body absorbs CBD, whether you take capsules, gummies, or a tincture, it’s always better to have some fatty food in your stomach.
How Long Do CBD Capsules Stay in Your System?
Depending on your size, how much CBD you consume, how regularly you consume CBD, and how fast your metabolism is, those CBD capsules may stay in your system for anywhere between 11 and 28 days.
For instance, if you eat CBD capsules on an empty stomach, that CBD will leave your system much sooner than if you ate the CBD with food.
This goes back to the previous section that your body will absorb much more of the CBD when you have a full stomach, particularly with fatty foods. If your body is able to absorb more of the CBD instead of just expelling it, it will stay in your system for longer.
Furthermore, if you use CBD frequently and a lot of it, it will stay in your system for longer. For instance, due to it building up over time, it's much more likely that CBD will stay in your system for far longer if you eat 100 milligrams per day, for example, compared to eating 25 milligrams every three days.
Are CBD Capsules Safe?
CBD capsules do appear to be safe. Yes, some people have reported some minor side effects, such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, and upset stomach, as well as drowsiness and dry mouth, although nothing overly serious.
The frequency of side effects occurring due to CBD capsules is relatively low, and when side effects do occur, they are generally not serious. You certainly don't have to worry about any life-threatening side effects from CBD capsules.
Closing Thoughts
The bottom line here is that CBD capsules are very easy and enjoyable to take; they provide you with the benefits of CBD without having to eat greasy oil or potentially harm your lungs. Plus, dosing is made easy.
If you think that CBD is something that you could benefit from, we do recommend checking out some CBD capsules. As for the main question of the day, can you eat CBD on an empty stomach? The answer is yes, you can eat CBD on an empty stomach, but much more of it will be absorbed if you eat first.
